When I first met my husband, I wanted nothing to do with him. For a start, he was a Sydney Anglican, and I was a Pentecostal. While both Christian traditions, this meant (in my mind at least) that while my church believed women and men were equally suited to ministry, his considered men teachers and leaders, but women assistants and helpers. The Sydney diocese was known for its “Headship Theology”. I had experienced plenty of misogyny in my life and didn’t want any more.
Tim was a popular worship leader and youth music director in his Anglican Church. And he wasn’t concerned by these differences. Following our first meeting, he told all his friends that I was going to marry him, and I got the nickname “the wife”. That felt awkward.